Scaffold collapse kills 1, injures 7 in central Vietnam

After about an hour of cutting through the concrete, Binh Dinh police are able to bring the victims out of the collapsed site. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Ngoc

The deceased victim was a female worker who was pushing a wheelbarrow beneath the scaffold.

A house under construction in the central province of Binh Dinh collapsed on Monday morning, killing one worker and seriously injuring a further seven, local police confirmed.

About twenty workers were at the site at the time installing a concrete ceiling on the first floor of the house in Binh Dinh's Quy Nhon Town, when the scaffold suddenly collapsed.

Dang Thi Phuong, 49, who was working underneath the concrete ceiling, was buried. Seven other people were seriously injured and hospitalized. “She was pushing a wheelbarrow into the house while the others were standing outside and on the scaffold,” a witness said.

The remains of the 50 square-meter house. Photo by VnExpress/A.X.

Dozens of police officers were sent to the scene and used specialized equipment to cut through blocks of steel-reinforced concrete to rescue the victims. It took an hour before they could reach Phuong, but she was already dead.

According to local authorities, the house had been under construction for over a month. It wasn't immediately clear why the scaffold collapsed, and an investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the incident.